LSU's defensive reputation looked to be sliding into oblivion this season. It's been partly obscured by a resurgent Tiger offense and on Saturday was out-hyped by Florida's league-leading unit.

But the Tigers reasserted themselves as a defensive force, allowing a season-low 240 yards to key a 17-6 victory against the Gators in Tiger Stadium before an announced crowd of 92,980.

With the LSU offense running the ball well but off its game in scoring points, the defense picked up the slack. LSU held Florida to two field goals and threw back the Gators' final challenge late in the game with a fourth-down stop, punctuated by back-to-back sacks of Florida quarterback Tyler Murphy on the final two snaps.

"We haven't gone anywhere," declared defensive tackle Anthony Johnson, who had a sack among his three tackles. "We've always been known for physical football.

"We weren't looking for the offense to go out there and score major points. If they scored it was better for us but we wanted to go out there and shut them out."

It was a noticeable turnaround for the embattled, young group, which had allowed 484 and 468 yards in the last two weeks. The missed tackles, blown assignments and huge chunks of yardage allowed were replaced by sure tacking, a consistent pass rush and an aggressive style that had marked past LSU teams.

The offense was held to a season-low 327 yards by the Gators, who hadn't allowed more than 275 yards in a game this season. The Gators were No. 2 in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game (65) but Jeremy Hill nearly doubled that by himself with 121 yards on 19 carries. That helped the Tigers offset Florida's 34:11-25:49 edge in time of possession.

"We knew it was going to be a physical ballgame and we were going to have to run the ball to be successful," Hill said. "They got theirs going for a little bit, so we knew we were going to have to get ours going. We needed to answer their intensity and we did that."

Hill's running and some key completions by LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger set up the game's only two touchdowns, 1-yard runs by fullback J.C. Copeland and backup quarterback Anthony Jennings.

Limited on offense, Florida opted for a ball-control style with Murphy making only his third career start. The Gators held the ball for 13 plays and moved 60 yards on its first possession to take a 3-0 lead. But LSU's defense responded with a pair of three-and-outs the next two times to set the tone for the remainder of the game.

LSU's success was rooted in its performance on first and second down. Forced into third and long, the Tiger pass rush was able to make Murphy's day difficult.

"We were getting off blocks, we're tackling line of scrimmage plays, we're getting in predictable third-down situations rushing the passer," LSU coach Les Miles said. "When that happens, you're not going to score a lot of points against us."

Said Johnson: "(Defensive line) Coach Brick (Haley) told us to pin our ears back; press the pocket, press the pocket. He told us in the beginning of the week, 'It's time to get some pressure on these guys. I want to let y'all loose.' You saw the best pass rushers in the country today."

Lamin Barrow led LSU with 13 tackles and Craig Loston returned from an injury to get nine. Defensive end Danielle Hunter, making his first start, had seven tackles and swatted down two passes at the line of scrimmage. Jalen Mills, Micah Eugene and Kendall Beckwith each had a sack.

It was Beckwith who sacked Murphy on Florida's final play. With the help of two fourth-down conversions, one on a fake punt, the Gators tried to make things uncomfortable by driving to the LSU 20. But Mills blitzed in to sack Murphy and Beckwith on fourth-and-26 sacked Murphy from behind to force a fumble.

"We didn't consistently control the line of scrimmage," said Florida coach, and former LSU assistant, Will Muschamp. "There were too many negative plays that put us behind in down and distance, which is very difficult to overcome against a good pass-rushing team."

Trailing 3-0, LSU's offense responded with a touchdown drive on its first possession. Mettenberger connected with running back Terrence Magee for 14 yards on third-and-5 and then hit Odell Beckham Jr. for 25 more. A third-down pass interference call at the goal line kept it alive and then Copeland bulled over from the 1-yard line to give the Tigers all the points they would need.

In the second quarter, Mettenberger connected with Beckham for 22 yards on third-and-17. Hill and Copeland went for 8 and 11 yards, respectively, before LSU coach Les Miles inserted Jennings, who sneaked in to make it 14-3.

The Gators threatened to make it tighter with a drive that reached the LSU 10-yard midway through the fourth quarter but the Tigers held firm and forced a 27-yard field goal. The LSU offense then answered as Hill ran four times for 45 yards to set up Colby Delahoussaye's 31-yard field goal with 4:13 left.

Mettenberger threw only 17 passes and completed nine for 152 yards, all season lows. But LSU amassed 175 yards rushing and averaged 4.5 yards per carry against the Gators, who came in allowing 2.8 yards per rush.

"If we needed to pass tonight we could have and completed a lot of balls. But there was really no reason to because we were doing so well in the run game," Mettenberger said.

"We wanted more points to help our defense out, give them more of a buffer zone. But those guys showed up today hopefully they'll do the same next week. They played great, kind of bailed us out on offense."